Improvement in fountain-pens



W. CLEVELAND.

FOUNTAIN PEN.

No. 10,469. v Pa tepted'Jan. 31,-1854.

NITE-D STATES WILLIAM CLEVELAND, 0F ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

I'M PROVEMENT IN FOUNTAIN-QPENS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 10,469, dated January 31, 1854!.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM CLEVELAND, of Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Fountain Pens, of which the following is a' full, clear, and exact description, reference being bad to the accompany ing drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improvement. Figs. 2. 3, 4, 5, and 6 are different views of the pen, exhibiting the general construction,

In fountain pens hitherto essayed ther have been principallytwo difficulties-viz., a too rapid flow of ink or an insufficient supply to the penand in that class of pens where the flow is regulated by pressure or mechanical contrivance the inconvenience of adj'ust- .ment h s been a practical objection'to the use of the pen. A fountain-pen to be successful must be self-feeding or automatic, and when the flow of ink is exactly in accordance with the necessity of the writer it becomes a very desirable instrumen t.

Fountainpens have been made with small conduit-tubes to convey the ink to the pen; but the difliculty with them all'is that the delivery-apertu re being necessarily small the ink does not flow out freely, being retained by the capillary attraction of the little tube 'hnd the pressure of the atmosphere. It a smallbubble of air could enter thislittle tube,

then a corresponding portion of ink would flow out; but. the capillary attraction of the parietes of the tube or orifice prevents the air from entering.

My improvement consists in counteracting the effect of this attraction by the introduction of a secondary capillary force in such manner as to break up. the ring of liquid at the orifice of the tube and conduct the liquid, out at one side of the orifice'and allow the air to enter at the opposite side.

To effect this I introduce the leading-stem a into the orifice and toward one side of the same, as shown in the drawings, It will be readily seen that the narrow space between this stem and the edge of rtllB orifice, and between the stem and the shield of the pen besurned by'the use of the pen,while' through .the larger space opposite the air enters to preserve the equilibrium of pressure within and Without the fountain. The leading-stein, which is-a small shank of metal, is provided.

with a shoulder turned a little conicalto an: swer the purpose of a stopper to close. the orifice when the pen is not in use. The stem is continued down to the slit of the pen, andail the way the capiilary action is kept up by the interstice between it and the shield of the pen, The stem is attached to a slidingarm b, which runs a short distance into the barrel of the pen and has at its upper extremity a little pin (1, attached to it and working in a slot 9, after the manner of .slidiu'g pens or pencils. The stopper may he pushed in and out by means of the stud b or the pin (1. With this pen in every case of variation of either stem or ori-;

the delivery-aperture that it shall lead the ink down on one side of the aperture and allow the air to enter the other, in the inanner and upon the principles herein set forth.-

- WM. CLEVELAND.

Witnesses: v JNO. L, BLAKE, J12, Gnonen LINASBY. 

